A Lesson In Blackmail
by ImminentGlory
Summary: A fluffalicious story in which an ill-planned blackmail attempt turns into a perfect opportunity to resolve the tension between Harry and Draco. Plus: review mine and I'll review yours! (Eventually.)
1. intro notes

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intro | notes 

two men enemies declared  
were placed within a tale  
brought together unprepared  
and set upon new trails  
to learn lessons unforeseen  
and understand new ways  
to find out what love can mean  
in unexpected days

  
**A Lesson in Blackmail**

A fluffalicious story in which an ill-planned blackmail attempt turns into a perfect opportunity to resolve the tension between Harry and Draco. Plus: review mine and I'll review yours! Witness the lovely system called reciprocity. 

  
**Notes – General**

I'm reformatting this, because it's getting mixed up, and I'm just like that. So I'm putting notes under the heading of the chapter they were referring to (the one previous to the chapter I actually posted them with.) 

I was just thinking about the *~*~*~*~*~* lines, and how they kind of start to bother me, but this is more a fluffy fic so I thought it should have squiggly decoration. So that's the reason for that dizzying fluff-line. 

  
**Notes - Chapter One – two men enemies declared**

I'm going to repost this first chapter, because I felt like describing them (you'll know "them" soon) as "disgustingly cute." No other changes. But I'd also like to say, in the spirit of community, if you review mine, I'll review yours. Because everyone likes reviews. BUT! only if you leave a signed review. Don't leave an anonymous note and expect me to know who you are. I'm not THAT super. Also saying: I know some of this is quite unlikely, but the purpose of this fic is mostly to get the slash pollution out of my head and onto the web. It's not deep, it's not guaranteed to be flawless, but hopefully it will be fun. 

Thank you, 

kimirasarielle – Of course there's more! I've got more already. I've been writing this since five days ago and it's 17 pages, but I won't post it all at once because then I will probably lose all my inspiration and won't have more for a while. Who knows? But it's looking good. I know it's not the most realistic story ever, but it's "delightfully fluffy." Or let me think so. Thank you for saying it's funny. I read one of your HPs and it was terribly funny, so that means a lot. 

Yeah, well. Let's go! 

  
**Notes - Chapter Two – were placed within a tale **

====NOTNEW====NOTNEW====NOTNEW=== 

Wow! That is a lot more reviews than I am used to. Thank you this time to: 

Phoenix353, Remmy, Haretsu, beautifulelf, asaroth69, Scarr C, Kimmy, and Sillie. 

The only comment I guess I have in return is that in regard to putting the boys in a tree for detention, I think Snape was hoping the monsters would get them. The birds, I thought, were not would Snape would have hoped for. So I wrote them in. And just before they showed, you know, Draco was complimenting Harry ("hot stuff, Potter) and asserting his own attractiveness ("everybody wants me"). I don't think the birds could figure out why else two people would be hiding in a tree in the forbidden forest. *shrugs* I certainly don't know. And I'm betting two detentioned boys in a tree don't look very evil and scary. 

I'm glad you all think it's fun. I just get in random moods where I need some H/D fluff, I'm sure some of you know that feeling. And what more perfect fluff than that you write yourself? 

So, I'm looking at you guys' author lists, and though of course I haven't really read anything yet (I just woke up!) I'm way too excited by some of the descriptions. It seems this is what I'll be doing today… mmm, fanfiction addiction. 

As you may have noticed, this is not actually the third chapter. However, the third chapter is written, and were it not that I am considering the minor tweaks, I would put it up. It should be up in a couple of days. A week, at the most. *marks calendar* Promise! Even if it sucks. Which it shouldn't. 

Merci beaucoup et au revoir,

  
Tini 

====NOTNEW====NOTNEW====NOTNEW=== 

Well, then. Hello again, here's your third chapter up! And I think it was only one day. No, I did not sleep at all last night. That is why I've written… what, another chapter and a half? Something like that. I've read and review some people's awesome fics, you know who you are… but I haven't read all that I want to, I think that will happen at a time when I am feeling less uncontrollably creative. Probably it will be quite soon, I don't know whether to hope for it or not! 

More thanks, now going to: 

Myk, LadyVader, amy, xikum, goobersprinkle, Kalariona, asaroth69 (again!), zeynel, SparkySparkles, Sailor Grape, Maizeysugah, and reila robyn. A few comments follow: 

LadyVader – Wouldn't we all, really? And I bet he would look good too. 

amy – Yeah, I'm not English either. I'm from the USA. But I assume your point was that English isn't your first language, and you just can't do that to me. I want to know what it is! I'm language-crazy like that. Also, as I said before, I haven't slept in far too many hours. 

asaroth69 – Thank you for the cheering. I am always inspired by people chanting my name. Woo! *dives for snitch* - wait… no. And the French was happy, and I understood it, even though I actually know very little French. To wit, I can understand that fine, but I wouldn't have been able to write it. 

Sailor Grape – "It's really funny how underwear can create total chaos between people." Amen. 

Wow, that's a lot of pre-story stuff. I hope you skipped it, it sucked. Yeah. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* 

In the interest of variety, who wants to try to tell me what I'm doing WRONG? That's always nice. Seriously. I like critiques, and when they're online, it doesn't make me want to hit people so much. *twitches* Go on! Do it! 

  
**Notes - Chapter Three – brought together unprepared**

Amy – That's cool, I'm part Swedish. I've always wanted to learn it. 

kimirasarielle - *gasp* You don't like spiky hair? Well, don't worry, Draco's hair isn't spiky. It's far too long, it would produce a strange anime-like effect that doesn't much work with this. Also, I imagine his hair as less gelled than in the movie *shudder*. I'd like to see what Harry's looked like spiky, though. 

Kary-Malfoy – You're related to Draco, eh? Well, tell him hi for me, and that I'm spreading rumours about him. 

  
**Notes – Chapter Four – and set upon new trails**

Thanks to Sillie, Haretsu, SparkySparkles, I Dream, NayNymic, and frizzy.

Sorry I was gone so long. I'm busy lately. :(

  
**Notes – Chapter Five – to learn lessons unforeseen**

Thanks to NayNymic, LadyVader, frizzy, Sillie, amy and Zarah. I am TERRIBLY flattered.

I am currently posting my second chapter in a week, and this one was pretty much conceived and written all today. Boring jobs are at least good for thinking time.

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Notes – Chapter Six – and understand new ways
    
    Sorry, I've been gone for quite a while (as happens more often than it should). I kind of got out of the ff mood, but I need to finish this, so here I am. Half this chapter was written after the last and half was written in the last two days.

Thank you all, though, for the numerous and lovely reviews. They were ultimately what reminded me to keep going. Thanks to the crazy ladies, amy, LadyVader, frizzy, NayNymic, Serenitas, bad-ass-Cinderella, Sarah Anna Lewis, my lovely friend Peter, Hestia, Sillie, Meemo, Haretsu, AW and noraseyes. Wow... fifteen reviews on one chapter... that's more than I have on most of my other fics. I guess this is a good one. Whee.

Oh crap, I need to read and review more. I need more time. Anybody have any sort of time-altering device? No? Well, I better get to it then. Read and enjoy. This is the second to last chapter.


	2. two men enemies declared

****

Chapter One – two men enemies declared

Ron burst into the Gryffindor common room, panting so hard he could barely stand.

"Ron! Are you okay?" gasped Hermione. 

Harry leapt to his feet and grabbed Ron by the arm. "Come on, sit down, it's okay," he assured, looking worried nonetheless. "What happened?"

Ron wiped his hand across his eyes and tried to control his breathing. "It was the strangest thing I have ever seen…" He buried his head in his hands.

"Go on, Ron, it's okay," said Hermione, glancing at the door and surreptiously grasping her wand. "Tell us…"

"I was down on the grounds talking to Hagrid when Snape came along and yelled at us like Snape does… you know, for not being productive or whatever. And Hagrid was burning brush at the edge of the Dark Forest…" Here Ron had to stop for another deep breath.

"Hagrid! Is Hagrid okay, Ron!" Harry panicked.

"Let me talk! He was burning brush, and he told me to go get Filch because he needed Filch to get him something… and he said that Filch was out at the Quidditch field, in the Slytherin locker room. Fixing something. And I thought that was a bad idea, but I did it anyway, because Hagrid asked me to. And so I went there, and…" Ron finally got enough air and burst out laughing. "And Malfoy was there! And guess what he was wearing?"

Harry and Hermione looked at each other, surprised and worried and not sure they wanted to know.

"TEDDY BEAR BOXERS! Red ones, with little black bears. Really disgustingly cute ones."

Harry broke into a grin. "This is SO blackmail-worthy."

Hermione shook her head. "I do not want to get into this."

Excited at the prospect of harassing Malfoy, Ron and Harry said at the same time, "I do!"

She raised an eyebrow. "You want to get into Malfoy's boxers? Both of you?"

"Oh, shut up," said Ron. "You know what we mean."

"Fine. Go for it. But if you get caught, remember I had nothing to do with it." Hermione stomped off.

"Wait, what do we want from Malfoy that we could blackmail him for?" said Harry.

"Well, nothing, really. But we could certainly make fun of him for quite a while!"

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Harry next saw Draco after dinner the next night. "Hey, Malfoy," he started.

Draco saw it coming. "Oh, no, the weasel told you too, eh?" 

Harry just smirked.

Draco sighed. "Well, in my defense, I only had those because I managed to get my sleeve in something Longbottom mixed up, and it ended up setting fire to all my clothes. So don't get so high-and-mighty Gryffindor on me. I can probably dig up something on you, too, O Impervious Potter." With that, he turned and swaggered off as fast as he could possibly swagger, holding his bag tightly to his side.

Harry watched him go with a small smile on his face. Tucking the last fold of fabric solidly into the bottom of his own bag, he knew he was winning. "What kind of freak carries their teddy boxers around in their bag anyway?" he muttered to himself.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Draco was furious when he discovered them missing. "And I was worried about someone finding them in my room," he muttered. "Now I've gone and dropped them!" He moved to bang his head against the wall, but thought better of it before he got there.

Retracing his steps in search of the wayward underwear, he ran into Harry.

"Lost something, Malfoy?" taunted Harry.

Understanding, Draco scowled at him. "Give them, Potter. Or I'll…"

"Cry for your mommy? Oh no! Can't have poor little Draco acting like the litte kid he is…"

Draco kicked Harry in the shin, and he clutched his leg in pain. "OW! That wasn't fair!"

"Doesn't look like we're playing fair, Potter. Game's on." Draco stormed back to the Slytherin common room to consider this new twist of events and plot his next move.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Harry didn't realise until he stepped out of the shower that all his underwear were missing. He dug frantically through all his clothes, eliciting the concern of his roommates, and all he found was a single feather.

At breakfast, he found more just like it – on Draco's owl. He scowled across the hall for half an hour and Draco just grinned. As he left the Great Hall, Draco dropped a piece of paper on Harry's lap. Harry unfolded it suspiciously. All it said was, "PAYBACK!"

"Game's on, Malfoy," he muttered.

But first he needed some new underwear.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Draco had the same idea, and so it was that they collided unexpectedly in the tunnel to Hogsmeade.

"Ow!" exclaimed Harry, "What is that?"

"What indeed," said Draco. "What are you doing here, Potter?"

"I didn't even know you knew about this path, Malfoy. Out to cause trouble?" He glared.

"Have you so little faith in me? Out to get clothes, more like," said Draco flippantly.

Harry's sarcasm kicked in. "Me too. The one thing we've ever had in common. Wow."

"You're going to trust your clothes around me, Potter?"

"I'd heard clothes weren't safe around you, but I'll take my chances. This time."

"Always the brave one." Draco grabbed Harry's sleeve and threw him off balance, causing him to fall. "Whoops, better watch the clothes!"

Harry narrowed his eyes threateningly, which didn't have much effect on Draco because the tunnel was so dim that they could barely see. "So it's that, eh, Malfoy?" He grabbed Draco by the collar and threw him against the wall.

Draco abandoned the idea of a clothing fight and punched Harry in the stomach. Harry doubled over, but took the chance to drag Draco to the floor. They proceeded to have a catfight such as no catfight has ever been had – until they remembered that they were mortal enemies, and also that neither of them were wearing underwear.

In complete silence, they extricated themselves from the tangles of each other's robes.

"No one will hear about this," hissed Draco. 

Harry agreed wholeheartedly. He was about to say something about it when he heard a noise. "What's that?" he whispered.

"Don't try to trick me, Potter," said Draco. But then he heard it too – Filch was coming down the tunnel!

"Oh bloody hell. Nowhere to hide!" he said, panicking.

Just before Filch came around the bend, Harry extinguished the light coming from his wand and threw his invisibility cloak over both of them. They squashed themselves against the wall, their eyes pinned on Filch. He passed without incident, but they continued down the dark path wearing the invisibility cloak anyway. Their nerves were rather shaken.

It did them no more good to come upon the end of the tunnel. Filch stood by it, painstakingly fastening the barrier to the walls. "No more nasty students sneaking away now, Mrs. Norris." Mrs. Norris meowed maliciously in reply.

Harry and Draco waited until Filch and Mrs. Norris had gone, then sunk to the floor. "But what about our underwear!" yelled Draco frustratedly.

"My butt is cold, damnit," said Harry, and spread the invisibility cloak on the floor.

"This is all your fault, Potter," said Draco.

"Why? It was you who set all your clothes on fire."

"There were so many things wrong with that sentence I can't even start."

"Well, technically, you did."

"Technically, I can do this as well." Draco whipped out his wand and set fire to Harry's clothes.

Harry screamed like a little girl. "You bastard! I'm wearing these!" He hit Draco, spreading the fire. Draco screamed like a little girl as well, and they ran around in circles screaming until they managed to extinguish themselves.

"And now, we are not only underwearless, half our other clothes are gone as well. Good going, Malfoy. We can't go back to the castle like this!"

Malfoy sighed and shook his head. "I didn't intend for both of us to be set aflame. Now there isn't anybody to even go fetch extra clothes. So we have to wait until night to go back."

"I could take the invisibility cloak."

"And run into somebody, and make them panic? It's way too crowded at this time of day. We'd get caught for sure. And I don't believe you'd come back for me."

"You just want to keep me here with you, Malfoy," Harry teased.

"Yeah, to inflict pain and suffering upon myself. I can't help it. Get a grip, Potter."

They passed the time arguing for a couple of hours before they heard another noise. This time McGonagall was upon them before they had a chance to hide behind the cloak.

"I don't know what you two are doing, but it better be some sort of romantic tryst." They looked at each other in confusion and slight revulsion. "Because," McGonagall continued, "if you are fighting again, I might have to arrange to have you two both expelled. All the teachers have had enough of your constant sparring."

They tried to hide the most burnt sides of their clothing. "Um, yeah," said Draco. Harry nodded mutely, not sure what he was agreeing to until Draco grabbed his hand tensely.

McGonagall rolled her eyes. "Neither of you are good liars," she said. "Wait here and I'll get you some unburnt clothes." She walked away down the tunnel, shaking her head.

After she was gone, Harry joked, "I had no idea, Draco," and batted his eyelashes.

"Don't start, Potter. If I get kicked out, my father will kill me. And if you get kicked out, wherever will you go?"

"Hawaii."

"Yeah, right."

"Fine, I'll play along. Just as long as the other students don't know."

"Of course they won't know. Not even McGonagall believes it."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The next morning, Draco found his teddy bear boxers – flying like a flag in front of the school. A laughing crowd surrounded the pole.

"Was there a pole there yesterday?" thought Draco out loud.

"Not as far as I know," grinned Harry, coming up next to him. "I wonder what poor bloke lost his underwear?"

"I've no idea," said Draco, deciding there was no way in hell he was going to sacrifice his pride and reputation for a pair of boxers.

A passing second-year Ravenclaw girl whistled at them.

"Which one of us was that for?" asked Draco.

"I didn't know you'd care," said the girl, surprised.

Confused, they watched her walk away in silence.

"What was that all about?" said Harry.

"You mean you haven't heard the rumours yet?" said Ron behind them.

Draco and Harry turned around in unison. "What rumours?"

"People have been saying that… well, you know, that there's something going on between you two. Apparently somebody heard Snape, or McGonagall, or Dumbledore, or Madam Hooch, or Filch, or who-knows-who, talking about both of you in the same sentence. You know how rumours go, we'll never know the… truth." He looked at them strangely.

"What?" said Harry, before realising that he was wearing the Slytherin robe McGonagall had brought for Draco last night. He hastily covered the logo. "And that is why one should not get dressed in the dark," he said, and ran for Gryffindor Tower.

Draco scowled at Ron and walked away, holding his hand over his own heart.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"So, Harry," said Ron.

"Yes, Ron?" said Harry.

"So, Harry," said Ron.

"You already said that, Ron," said Harry.

"I know," said Ron.

"So WHAT, Ron?

"Why, exactly, do you have Malfoy's clothes?"

Harry told him.

Ron broke into a relieved smile. "A fight. Good."

Harry laughed. "What did you think it was because of, Ron?"

Ron told him.

Harry's mouth dropped open. "My imagination does not extend to that when it comes to Malfoy."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Harry's imagination came up with a lot of very unpleasant things involving Malfoy when he discovered that everything in his bag was covered in glowing Slytherin-green ink. It took him and Hermione an hour and a half to restore his books to a readable state.

"So I've been hearing some interesting things about you and Malfoy," teased Hermione.

  
"Don't even start," said Harry. "I've heard some of them too."

"I assume they're not true, then."

"Of course not!"

"It's too bad Malfoy's such a rat. You two would be cute together." Hermione laughed.

Harry hit her with a book.

"So, that's a no?"

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*


	3. were placed within a tale

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Chapter Two – were placed within a tale

Ron and Harry devised a simple but satisfying plan to put the ball back in Draco's court. They got some simple Muggle-style water balloons from Fred and George and filled them with a potion they got from a book of Hermione's that would turn Draco's hair blue.

When they got to potions, they waited by the door until everyone but Draco was there. They had enlisted the help of adulating Colin Creevey to delay him. Piling the water balloons on the edge of the nearly closed door, they listened for his approach.

"I can hear him," whispered Ron. "Shut up!"

The class, always ready for entertainment, obediently hushed and stared at the door.

They could hear, very faintly, the sound of Draco's footsteps approaching fast. Then a voice – "Malfoy, I would like to speak to you for a moment."

"Yes, Professor?"

"Do I need to remind you that as a part of Slytherin house, you have a reputation to uphold? Being late for important classes does not speak well of your discipline."

"No, sir. I'm sorry, sir."

"Very well. It is time for class to begin."

The entire class gasped in horror as the balloons came down on Snape's head. He stood there, livid, his hair turning blue and his face turning red, staring at Harry, who was still standing by the door.

"Come here, Potter."

Gulping, Harry stepped towards Professor Snape.

"You two, Malfoy."

Malfoy hesitantly moved closer.

Snape picked up two unbroken balloons and smashed them over their heads. "Do you two think that's funny? Just because you like each other doesn't mean anyone else likes you! Detention for both of you! For the next week!"

Harry and Draco stared at each other, covered in blue dye. "Did he say we liked each other?" Draco mouthed in confusion. "I think so," Harry mouthed back. The class was filled with speculative murmuring about what they could be mouthing to each other, and about Snape's credibility on matters of romance.

"Oh, this is a mess," moaned Harry, putting his blue head in his hands.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Snape decided that, since Dumbledore ruled out a week of detentions, the two of them would be best punished by spending detention sitting in a tree in the Dark Forest for a night. The other teachers argued that that wasn't a very good use of anyone's time, but Snape held that in the end, leaving them there might be better for everyone involved. And since it was ultimately Snape's decision, off to the forest they went.

Draco and Harry were delighted to find that they weren't actually expected to sit on a branch. Hagrid built them a rickety-looking but actually stable platform high in an oak tree, and they settled in for the night with some smuggled blankets. The other teachers were less demanding than Snape, and not as afraid of him as the students.

The platform had one edge backed up against the trunk of the tree, so Draco and Harry leaned against it and tried to ignore the awesome sense of vertigo they got from looking down.

"So far, this is better than some detentions I've had," said Harry, remembering his night spent addressing Gilderoy Lockhart's fanmail responses.

"You mean that time first year with You-Know-Who?" said Draco.

"Well, that's not the one I was thinking of, but that was pretty bad too. What I remember most from that detention was you running away like a scared little girl when we saw him."

"Oh, yeah. I was pretty freaked out. I'd still do it. And you would too, and you know it."

"Anybody would, really. Okay, fine, I take back the little girl comment."

"There was a little girl comment? I missed that, you jerk!" Draco swatted Harry upside the head, and Harry just laughed.

"Come on, isn't it all kind of funny?"

"What's fun? Living in a tree with you? I could think of better things to do."

"I mean the look on Snape's face."

Draco laughed. "He's got more interesting hair now, at least. Greasy AND blue."

"Yeah, well, so is yours."

"It's gel, idiot."

"Yeah, I don't care. And you didn't really need to bring it with you." Harry grabbed Draco's gel out of his bag.

"Give it back, Potter. It wouldn't look good on you."

"Wouldn't it?" Harry started to open it.

"Potter! That's expensive!" Draco sighed. "Fine, let me have it and I'll give you some."

Harry laughed as he handed it back. "I didn't really want it."

"Too late now." Draco slopped a palmful of gel onto Harry's head.

"Hey!"

"Hold still."

When Draco was done with it, Harry's hair was blue and spiked. "There, now you're all punk. Hot stuff, Potter." Harry raised an eyebrow. "Figure of speech. Don't get all excited."

"I didn't think it was me getting excited, Malfoy."

"Oh, come on. Everybody wants me," joked Draco.

Suddenly they heard a chirping noise. "What's that?!" they gasped at the same time. Soon the chirping was coming from all sides. Without noticing, they slid closer to one another, holding their wands. They could see small dark-feathered birds flashing between branches everywhere. Some of them were carrying things. They began bringing them toward the boys, and soon every branch and surface in the immediate vicinity was covered in…

"Flowers?" said Harry.

A small bird chirped in acknowledgement.

Draco burst out laughing. "How cute! The birds are trying to make it romantic. I feel bad wasting their efforts so blatantly."

"It's too bad we hate each other."

"I know. Why do we hate each other, anyway?"

"Because I'm the famous Harry Potter, and you're a snobby little brat."

"Yeah right! It's because I am the infamous Draco Malfoy, and you're a know-it-all do-gooder."

"I am not!"

"You are so."

"I'm not that good," Harry pouted.

"You save the world at least once a year," pointed out Draco.

"Not on purpose. And you keep threatening my life."

"Not on purpose."

The birds chattered at them to shut up and appreciate the flowers.

Harry picked one up and smelled it, then threw it at Draco. "Peace? Just for tonight. I'd hate to be blamed for you falling out of a tree."

"Yeah, fine." Draco threw a handful of flowers at Harry.

Harry threw a handful back, and so it went until they were both covered in flowers and the occasional bruise.

At about midnight, a deep moaning sound came from deep in the forest. The boys went still and huddled down on the platform in their blankets, trying not to be noticed. They fell asleep like that, and when they woke, it was early in the morning.

Brushing the flowers off himself, Harry sat up. "Draco! Wake up! The sun's coming up!" he hissed. Draco sat up, his blue hair all a mess. "Gorgeous in the morning, I see," snickered Harry.

"Shut up," he mumbled, brushing his hair into place with his fingers. Turning to look at the sun, he lost his breath.

"It's gorgeous…"

"I told you," said Harry.

"GOOD MORNING!" yelled Hagrid from the ground. "Ready to come down yet?"

They climbed down the ladder slowly, reluctant to leave behind the spectacular view but more than ready to find some comfortable furniture.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*


	4. brought together unprepared

****

Chapter Three – brought together unprepared

Harry went through the day in a tired daze, went to bed early that night and woke late Saturday morning with flowers in his bed. Three black birds sat on the windowsill, and when he sat up, they chirped good morning to him and flew away.

"What was that?" said Ron, sitting up and yawning.

"Birds," said Harry, and went down to the common room. He found a small group of girls waiting for him there. They grabbed his arms as soon as they saw him and shoved him down into a chair.

"What are you doing?!" he yelled.

"Hold still," said Ginny. He felt something cold on his head.

"What is that?" said Harry nervously.

"Gel. You must be spiky. It looks good," said a girl he'd never even talked to.

Finally, he broke away from the fiendishly fashionable girls and made his way to breakfast.

Draco was already there, looking better rested than when Harry had last seen him. He was sitting between Crabbe and Goyle, who were looking slightly depressed - because Draco kept telling them to shut up, as Harry heard when he was beckoned over.

"You smell like flowers," he said to Draco, who looked annoyed and plucked a petal out of his hair.

"Were you harassed by those birds this morning too?" said Draco.

"Yeah." Harry paused. "How did they manage to get at you underground?"

"Hell if I know. Listen, I'm supposed to tell you that Snape wants to see us after breakfast."

"What for?"

"Shut up. I can't be expected to know everything."

"Excuse me?" Harry's eyes widened in surprise.

"Why won't anybody shut up! I have a headache!"

"Oh, hold on a minute." Harry pulled out his wand and thought for a moment, then pointed it at Draco's head and said, "Cranius aspirinus!" He stuck his wand back in his pocket. "And that's why it's good to have Hermione for a friend."

Draco blinked crossly at him. "Nobody asked for your help."

Crabbe and Goyle laughed and thumped Draco on the back. "Good going, Malfoy. Show him who's better."

Draco got up and walked toward the doors. Harry followed him, taken aback. As soon as they were out of sight, Draco leaned over and said quietly, "Thanks. Much better."

Harry smiled and looked at him, but Draco looked away quickly.

They walked down the long paths to Snape's office and peered inside to see it empty.

"What are you looking at?" came a cold voice behind them. They jumped.

"We were just…" started Harry, but stopped when Draco elbowed him in the side.

"Nothing, sir."

Snape eyed them suspiciously. "Very well. Sit down." They sat down, and Snape continued. "I understand that both of you are aware of a… secret… tunnel leading from this school to Hogsmeade?" They nodded nervously. "Dumbledore has asked me to ask you for a bit of a…" Here Snape looked rather disgusted. "Favor."

There was a tense moment of silence. Draco broke it with, "Favor?"

"Yes. Favor. Dumbledore wants something delivered, and for reasons I cannot possibly comprehend, he thinks it would be safest if students did the job. Since you have already demonstrated your total disrespect for school rules by sneaking about under the ground, it seems you two are the ones for this highly dangerous job."

As Snape had intended, they were both rather confused and frightened. But they were more frightened of refusing Snape than of any task Dumbledore would set for them, so they kept quiet.

"I will meet you tomorrow at four thirty in the morning by the entrance to the tunnel, and give you further instructions then. Do not tell anyone about this. Or else." With that, he turned them out of his office and slammed the door.

"Well, that was weird," said Harry.

"Extremely," agreed Draco. "With the ridiculous rumours they've been spreading amongst themselves, I would think they'd want to keep us apart."

"I bet they figure we'll protect each other, or some stupid thing."

"Ha. It'll serve them right if only one of us comes back."

"Draco, if that happens, it won't be you."

"We'll see, Potter. We'll see."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Naturally, Harry told Ron and Hermione about what had happened, even the part when Snape threatened them with "or else." Ron was ecstatic that Harry got to go to Hogsmeade.

"Here, do me a favor! I need this dropped off in a certain place for George to pick up. I'll tell you where as soon as I get my map. Hold on." Ron tossed a thick folder to Harry.

"What is this?" Harry examined the folder.

"Ideas. For joke things, and candy, you know, for them to sell in their shop. They said that if I come up with some good ideas they'll give me part of the money."

"Oh, wicked!"

"Don't let Malfoy see inside it. Don't let ANYBODY see it! Secret, right?"

"Right." Harry closed the folder and hid it under his robes. "I'll get it taken care of, don't worry."

"Thanks, mate. I owe you one."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Snape and Draco were already at the statue when Harry got there at four twenty-five in the morning. As he approached, Snape pulled out a small wooden box and handed it to Draco. "Don't open it, or else. Good luck. I'm going back to bed." Snape stumbled away blearily.

"That's it?" said Harry, watching after him.

"He told me already where to take it," yawned Draco. "C'mon, let's get this over with."

They climbed into the opened statue and closed it behind them. "Lumos," whispered Harry, and his wand lit the tunnel.

"Not so bright! It's not five yet!" complained Draco. Harry dimmed the light.

"So what is that? And where are we going?"

"Something ominous, I don't know. They won't tell me. And we can't open it without people knowing, I checked. But there's a building in Hogsmeade we're supposed to take it to."

"Right. I certainly hope Filch took down his damn barrier." Harry paused. "Hey, you remember that blackmail deal?"

"What blackmail deal?"

"The one where you own the teddy bear boxers."

Draco grimaced. "I wasn't aware that was a blackmail deal."

"You've got to be kidding. You think we wouldn't do it?"

"I should have expected. But what about it?"

"This is the part where I do something I shouldn't, and you don't tell anybody because the whole school knows somebody had teddy bear boxers."

"Bloody bastard. What are you doing?"

"I've got something of my own to deliver in Hogsmeade. Nobody's supposed to see it, right? Top secret." Harry stared seriously at Draco.

Draco grinned. "Like a Muggle secret agent. Shady."

Harry hummed a tune he'd heard in a spy movie once and flipped up the collar of his shirt. Draco laughed at him. "Dork." Harry kept humming and began to slink along the walls.

"Just because your hair is all spiky and blue doesn't mean you're cool, Potter."

"You just wish you were as attractive as I am, Malfoy. Sorry!"

"That's not even possible. You know I'm the foxiest one in the school. And my hair is bluer than yours."

"It is not!"

"Your hair is brown, Potter! Mine's blond. It dyes blue, not bluish-brown."

"There's no brown, idiot. It's magic dye."

"Well, we'll just have to get a mirror and see later."

"Fine, you're just delaying your defeat."

Draco bit his lip. "Wait, why are we fighting about our hair?"

Harry shrugged. "At least nobody's on fire."

Draco rolled his eyes at the bad joke and Harry laughed and pushed him toward the wall. "Get a sense of humour, Malfoy."

"That's strange, I was about to say the same."

They heard a noise behind them and whirled around.

"What was that?" whispered Draco.

Harry whispered back, "I don't know."

They both held their wands out defensively and listened hard.

"… need to reach them before they get there…"

"They're after us!" hissed Harry, frightened. He put out the light.

Draco just gripped his wand tighter and stared straight ahead.

They could hear them coming just around the corner.

"Boys! It's Hagrid and Madam Hooch, we were sent to tell you not to take the package to Hogsmeade! Boys?"

"Madam Hooch! Don't you dare let her see the folder, or I'll tell on you!" hissed Harry.

"What folder?" hissed back Draco.

Harry panicked. "The one up there on the floor!"

Madam Hooch stepped around the corner, almost onto the smuggled folder. "What's…"

Draco, pressed for a distraction, threw Harry against the wall. And kissed him. On the lips.

"Oh my god!" said Madam Hooch, and completely forgot about the folder.

"Oh my god," thought Harry, and did likewise.

Draco's heart pounded and everything before his eyes went white, so he shut them. "Turbulent," he thought. Slowly, he pulled away from Harry.

Madam Hooch had backed further down the tunnel to give them a bit of privacy, dragging Hagrid with her. Harry quickly retrieved the folder and hid it in a crack in the wall with the thought that he'd deliver it later.

"Ah… thanks," he said, clearing his throat. "That worked quite well."

"It did indeed," agreed Draco. They walked to meet the adults silently.

Madam Hooch and Hagrid had obviously been talking about Harry and Draco, because they stopped when the boys appeared. Madam Hooch took the mystery package from Draco with no explanation as to why the plans for it had changed.

"Ready to head back?" said Hagrid nervously. Harry wanted desperately to explain to Hagrid what had happened, but he just nodded and followed the rest back to the school.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*


	5. and set upon new trails

****

Chapter Four – and set upon new trails

Draco and Harry met back in the tunnel that same afternoon to deliver the folder for Ron. They were prepared this time, with Harry's invisibility cloak and alibis prepared. Harry was supposedly studying with Hermione, and Draco knew that if he claimed to be doing something for his father nobody would ask any questions.

Their walk to Hogsmeade was surprisingly uneventful. They delivered Ron's folder to a friend of Fred and George's at the Red Dragon Inn, and then got to their side plan of finally obtaining new underwear. It didn't take them long at all.

It didn't take them long to get into the tunnel back to Hogwarts, either. The entrance was very well hidden, and they had the invisibility cloak to shield them. They were relieved that they hadn't given themselves away, and they had a completed mission and new clothing to show for it. Also, they were a bit more comfortable now.

"Hey, Draco," said Harry, once they were safely sealed away from Hogsmeade. "Close your eyes and hold out your hands." Curious, Draco obeyed. He felt something soft pressed into his palms, and he chanced a peek at it. Then he began laughing out loud.

Draco held them up, making a strange face at them, and examined them – a ridiculously gaudy pair of silvery silk boxers, featuring cheerful little green teddy bears.

"I thought it was somehow appropriate," said Harry. "The last I saw of the other ones, they were flying in the wind. And these are Slytherin-coloured!"

"I am never wearing these," said Draco. "Ever."

"I didn't think so," answered Harry. "But it was too funny to pass up, teddy boy."

Draco smacked him on the shoulder, and took off down the tunnel. "Come on, let's get back before we're missed."

They didn't get back that night, though. Filch had come and resurrected the barrier while they were in Hogsmeade, and though they tried for an hour, they couldn't figure out how to get through.

"Figures," muttered Harry. "What are we going to do now?"

"I don't know, Potter," said Draco, sitting down. "But I'm not going to keep banging on that when we know it doesn't work. Let's think about it for a while."

"Think about it, sure. You're going to fall asleep."

"I am not. I've got to keep watch. With that wand of yours giving off such bright light, anybody within a hundred meters of the tunnel will see us!"

Harry dimmed his wand to the point where they could barely see each other. "Is that better, then?"

"Much. Stop pacing like a rabid wolf, it's obviously not helping anything."

Harry sat down next to Draco. "You're shivering," he said after a moment. He picked it up and draped it partially over Draco's shoulders.

"So are you." Draco slid the rest of the cloak over Harry, then laughed at him. "Nice head. It's too bad you don't have a body to match it."

Harry wrinkled his nose. "I could say the same about you. But unless the light goes completely out, there will be floating heads. I'm not willing to suffocate."

Draco grabbed Harry's wand and banged it on the floor once, and everything went dark. "That's better."

"I'm blind now, you idiot!"

"You've got your other senses, idiot. You don't need to be able to see anyway, you know what's here. You could reach out and touch any of it that you wanted to." Draco's heart stopped short when he felt Harry's hand on the side of his face. It started up again when he felt Harry's lips touch his own softly.

"Sorry," whispered Harry, his lips still almost touching Draco's.

"I'm not," Draco whispered back, and wound his arms tightly around Harry. Harry responded in kind. Draco kissed him again, this time with no hesitation.

Draco was filled with an irresistible desire to not care about what he was supposed to be doing, or at least he didn't try hard enough to resist it. "Just forget everything, just for now," he whispered. Harry nodded his head against Draco's shoulder and brushed his lips against his neck. 

Harry tried not to think about this would mean later.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The two spent a few happy hours simply allowing themselves to be near each other before attempting to return to Hogwarts. They often thought, during those hours, that they should return… that they might be missed… that what they were doing was… but no, there were more important things at the time.

They fell asleep together in the early hours of the morning, and woke up before long. Draco woke first to find on the floor, strangely, a flower of the sort the birds had taken to leaving. He tickled Harry's nose with it and waited for him to wake up.

"Come on, we need to find a way back."

Harry yawned and stretched for a minute before gamely helping Draco search for a weakness in the barrier. Finally, Draco found a tiny keyhole on the edge of the wall. He pointed it out to Harry, who immediately used the Alohomora spell he'd learned so long ago from Hermione to unlock it.

"That was strangely easy," said Draco.

"But it took so damn long!"

"Yeah, let's go. They're going to kill us if we come back any later."

"I don't think anybody will believe I was studying with Hermione for this long."

"I don't think anybody believed that anyway."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

It was Monday, but Draco convinced Harry to forego his classes in favour of sleep. "You shouldn't be so perfect, hero boy," he remarked mockingly. "Go up to your tower, none of your Gryffindor friends will be there to tell you off."

Harry thankfully complied. He couldn't possibly concentrate in class anyway. He was beginning to realise how stupid he had been to fool around with Malfoy like that. What had he been thinking! Now he was on the verge of making all those stupid rumours come true, and what for? Nothing good could come of it. Draco Malfoy was a hell of a good kisser, but he was still a Slytherin.

Harry hardly slept at all. He kept waking abruptly, his head filled with vestiges of dreams of Draco – holding Draco, fighting with Draco, Draco laughing with the whole school about what a stupid git Harry Potter was for falling for him. Finally, wracked with doubt, he went in search of Draco. He found him sitting alone outside on the steps of the school.

"Draco."

He turned to see Harry standing above him. "Oh, hey, you. Not sleeping?"

"We need to talk."

"About?" Draco had somehow gotten access to some Muggle cigarettes, and he somehow looked perfect holding one just then, thought Harry. Or not perfect – dangerous.

"Last night."

"What about last night?"

"Draco, I'm sorry. Forget about it, please. I wasn't thinking straight."

"Obviously."

"Stop kidding around. I just wanted to say that I didn't mean it."

Draco was crushed, but he'd be damned if he'd show it. "I did." Had he meant to say that? He didn't think so, but it was true nonetheless.

Harry was confused. "What do you mean, you did? You never mean anything."

"Look, Harry. I meant to do that, and I would do it again. I'm somehow attracted to you. So deal with it."

"Why me? I'm the too-good boy, remember, the one you hate. The one you aren't supposed to even talk to. And that's just pretty weird."

"And I'm the bad boy, and what better for a bad boy than the most unexpected? If you're worried about what your friends might think, you'd better deal with it." Draco stood and placed his cigarette between Harry's lips, holding his fingers there for a beat longer than necessary. Harry coughed at the smoke and pulled back and Draco smiled. "Besides, I think corrupting you would be a lot of fun. Don't you?"

Harry never got a chance to answer before Draco continued quietly, "Think about it. Meet me Friday night on our platform in the Dark Forest." He strolled away arrogantly, leaving Harry's head in a whirl.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Harry hardly spoke at all at dinnertime, and his friends were worried about him.

"Harry, what's wrong?" asked Ron. "You've been so weird the last few days. And I'm not just talking about the blue hair."

"I know," said Harry, but offered no further explanation.

"You can talk to us, Harry," pressed Hermione.

"I know," said Harry.

"So?" demanded Ron exasperatedly.

Harry sighed and figured his stomach was too filled with butterflies to eat anyway. "Come with me." The three abandoned their dinners and headed outside, where they could make sure that no one was listening in on them. They sat down cross-legged on the grass in the middle of the quidditch field.

Hermione was the first to press him this time. "Alright, Harry, out with it. What's up with you?"

He gauged the situation, afraid to shock them and somehow wanting to at the same time. "I think I might have a crush," he ventured.

Ron looked interested, and Hermione was downright excited. "Oh, on who, Harry!"

He played with the grass for a moment, wondering how to phrase it before going with tactlessness. "Draco Malfoy."

They were certainly stunned. None of them spoke for at least two minutes. When Ron finally came around, he said in a hoarse voice, "Why?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "Hell if I know. I wouldn't choose to, would I? But I think I do."

Hermione found her wits. "Why - what's happened between you two lately?"

Harry explained the mutual pranks, the half-true rumours, the arguments that had become less and less argumentative. He explained the attempted delivery of Ron's folder and the impromptu distraction, and the unexpected incident when they were stuck in the tunnel. He told them about Draco's proposal of corruption. He left out the part about the new teddy bear boxers. When he was done, Hermione and Ron had a lot of questions, but they couldn't find the words for them, so the inquiries would have to wait until later.

"All I have to say, Harry," said Hermione, "is that if you think he won't hurt you, go for it. But if he hurts you, I know a lot of spells he won't ever be able to defend himself against."

Harry smiled gratefully at her. "Thanks, Hermione. At least you make it sound like it's clear."

Ron was strangely quiet. Harry watched him, worried about what he would think of Harry's unusual attraction. Finally Ron said, "Whatever you think, Harry. I don't like him at all, but it's your life." With that, he got up and began walking away. Harry looked after him, troubled.

"Don't worry about him, Harry," consoled Hermione. "I think he's just a bit jealous, like usual."

"There's no reason for him to be jealous!" Harry leapt up and ran after Ron.

"Ron! Ron!" Ron slowed slightly, and Harry caught up to him. "Ron, what's wrong? You know Malfoy isn't even on par with you. You're my best friend. He's just… I don't know, but we're not friends. Don't be mad. It's just not the same thing."

Ron looked relieved, even though he wouldn't admit it.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Harry spent the rest of the week trying to decide what to do about Draco. Hermione was no help to him, because she kept trying to get him to make charts displaying the pros and cons of his choices. "It's not about the facts, Hermione," he kept telling her, and she kept shaking her head exasperatedly at him.

Ron did his best to avoid discussing the issue. He seemed uncomfortable about it all, which bothered Harry a little, but he didn't want to push it. Ron seemed stressed enough.

The advice he needed came quite unexpectedly from Neville, though the boy never knew it. Harry was sitting in the Gryffindor common room on Friday afternoon, just hours before he was to meet Draco. The two hadn't talked in almost a week, and Harry strangely missed him. He was staring out the window, trying to decide how he should handle Draco, when he heard faintly through his thoughts the sound of Neville's voice asking him a question.

"What?" said Harry, looking up.

"Don't you know?" replied Neville, looking puzzled.

Harry lapsed into thought again and Neville left, shaking his head at Harry's unhelpfulness. "Hermione, do you know what I need to do to get rid of these feathers?"

Harry felt as though he had been struck by lightning. "Don't you know?" he whispered to himself. Yes, he did know what to do. He had known all along.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*


	6. to learn lessons unforeseen

****

Chapter Five – to learn lessons unforeseen

Harry landed his broomstick on the platform, not seeing Draco already there leaning into the shadows.

"You came," said Draco quietly, with an air of relief.

Harry jumped. "You scared me!"

Draco smiled unapologetically. "Don't worry. We're safe. I put some warding charms around here, just to be on the safe side. Wish I'd known them when we were here before. The birds have already been, though." He gestured to the floor, which was nearly covered in flowers, and to some birds, sitting on a nearby branch.

"Why are the birds acting so confused?" asked Harry. They were twittering loudly and kept looking in the boys' direction.

"The warding charms make us invisible to humans as long as we're up here, and they're supposed to make us look strange to animals. I'm not quite sure how." Draco had a vision of them with their blue hair accompanied by green skin. Lots of green skin…

"So, have you decided to accept my offer of corruption?

Harry sat down, and Draco followed suit. "I'm not sure whether I like you at all," said Harry slowly.

Draco scowled. "I don't think I asked if you liked me. What I wanted to know is, are you attracted to me? And are you willing to do something about it?" Draco held his breath.

Harry looked hesitantly at him, wondering if he was really doing the right thing. "I am."

Draco, dizzy with elation, leant towards Harry to seal their agreement with a kiss.

"But wait!" said Harry. Draco frowned, displeased at having been thwarted, and Harry continued. 

"I want your word that you're not going to use this against me later somehow."

Draco managed to look offended. "Do you think I'm the blackmailing sort?"

Harry couldn't answer that, so he kissed Draco instead.

"Hey, that was my move!" Draco quickly put a few more moves into effect before they could be stolen.

Harry felt strangely tight-skinned and light-headed. His hands seemed to move of their own accord over Draco's body. He thrilled at Draco's warm breath travelling down his neck, followed by sweet light kisses. He closed his eyes and let his hands see for him – Draco's sleek hair, the graceful curve of his neck, his strong back. Slipping his hands past the barrier of Draco's jeans, Harry smiled at the feel of silk. A quick peek confirmed the presence of cheerful green bears on the silver.

"Nice choice," he said quietly to Draco.

Draco smiled back. "I thought you'd enjoy that."

They both let themselves enjoy the rest of the night.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Later, they lay close to each other, distantly contemplating how out-of-character they were being. Draco held more than smoked a cigarette, and Harry nestled his head in the crook of Draco's arm and drew complicated twists in the smoke with his finger.

"So, how do you like being corrupted?"

Harry grinned and snatched Draco's cigarette from him. "It's not so bad." Studying the cigarette, he said, "I always hated the smell of these, but they really make you taste good." To emphasize his point, he ran his tongue across Draco's teeth before inhaling experimentally.

Draco laughed, thinking that Harry looked like a naughty kitten doing things like that. "You should know that anything can be charmed to make it good. Those aren't quite as nasty as normal Muggle cigarettes."

Harry studied Draco. "I'm not sure you could be made good." He blushed, thinking of some of the things that had just happened. "In some ways, at least."

"Well, then, we'll just have to make you bad, won't we?"

Harry looked at him quizzically. "What do you mean by that? I don't think I want to be bad."

Draco grinned and pinned Harry down on the floor. "Oh, you do. You'll see."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Bad boy lesson number one," said Draco tensely. "No apologies. Let's try this again." He walked away from Harry, then toward him again, bumping his shoulder obviously into Harry's. "Watch where you're going!"

"Sorry!" replied Harry automatically, and buried his red face in his hands when Draco glared at him again. "I can't help it! I'm so-"

Draco shut him up with a playfully angry kiss. "You're going to stop apologizing like a frightened rat if I have to duct tape your mouth shut."

Harry winked at him. "Oh, you wouldn't do that."

"I would so," lied Draco. "Again!"

Finally Harry found what it was like to keep his repentance in the right place, and the boys moved on to their next order of business.

Actually, first they snogged for a while, then they moved on.

Draco had decided that Harry was a prime candidate for corruption of a mild sort, and though Harry tried to convince him that he was okay with being a good boy, ultimately Draco knew more about that sort of thing. Also, Harry found that he had a hard time protesting when there were wildly attractive blue-haired boys on his lap.

So here they were in an empty classroom, hiding from their curious friends, and teaching Harry to walk on the wild side.

"Good start, I think. What do you say we do a field trip?"

"A field trip?" Harry was puzzled. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"What do we have on Tuesday, Defense Against the Dark Arts and Potions? I think they won't miss us much. I think you could learn a lot more in London."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

They had an interesting lunch at a small Mexican restaurant. Neither of them had ever had Mexican before, and didn't know what it actually was, so they chose their food randomly from the menu.

"Here, taste this," said Harry, pushing a small bowl of salsa toward Draco. Draco sampled it curiously, then his eyes went wide and he grabbed for his glass of water. He only succeeded in knocking it over, so he snatched Harry's and downed most of it.

"What the hell IS that?" he gasped.

"I think it's got some pepper called habañero," said Harry, managing to be guiltless and smug at the same time. "Don't you like it?"

Draco grinned. "I hate it. Good going, Potter. That's worth about six points."

"There are points?"

"Well, I guess there are now. I'd say you have… maybe, twenty-three. Once you get fifty, you can go to Disney World."

"Oh, boy. Almost halfway there. If I sell cookies to all the Hufflepuffs, can I get a bike too?"

"Twenty-four now, for your gratuitous use of sarcasm in countering sarcasm."

"Aww, I'm only up to twenty-four. And it's already Tuesday."

"Okay, twenty-five. But just because I like you."

Harry smiled and looked suddenly, to Draco, very young, and also older than he had a right to look. Draco almost felt bad for playing with him like this – almost.

"Come on, let's go," he said suddenly. He stood up and walked toward the door.

Rushing after him, Harry hissed, "Draco! The check…"

"Screw the check. We don't live in London, they won't find us."

Harry sighed and dropped some money on the table before running out the door after Draco.

"That loses you five points, you know."

"Screw the points, what's wrong with you all of a sudden?"

Draco spotted an scratched old telephone booth, covered four feet up in annoying advertisements. Perfect.

"You know how to use a Muggle telephone?" he asked Harry.  


"Of course I do. But why – "

Draco pulled Harry into the booth. "Then pick it up."

Confused, Harry obeyed. "Who are we calling?"

"Oh, but we're not," said Draco. He grinned sinfully, then proceeded to drop to his knees and blow Harry's mind in a way no Gryffindor had ever seen.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Ten points, for your total lack of protest," said Draco.

Harry looked surprised. "I could have protested?"

"It wouldn't have done you any good." Draco, who had been leaning against a brick building, put his weight back on his feet and started walking. Harry followed, wondering exactly why he seemed to be always following Draco.

"Eh, that's what I thought. Not that I was considering it, mind you."

"You looked terrified whenever somebody walked by, Harry. They must've thought you had seven dead koalas."

"Koalas?!" He was pretty sure that wasn't what Draco had meant.

"Yeah, aren't they koalas? The little tree-bear things, that Hermione thinks are so cute?"

Harry wasn't sure that cleared it up. "I don't have any koalas… in fact, nobody has any koalas. They don't even live in this part of the world. And I think they bite."

"Well, I bite, and people like me." In Draco's world, this summed up everything.

"Yeah, but you can do a lot of things I don't want to think about koalas doing." Harry grabbed Draco's sleeve to stop him, and, on a whim, kissed him until people began to stare. Draco made no move to get away.

"Raunchy little thing, aren't you?" he murmured. Harry bit Draco's lip to quiet him.

"You like me anyway," Harry murmured back.

"I think I do," agreed Draco, a bit surprised.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*


	7. and understand new ways

****

Chapter Six – and understand new ways

Friday was a luminously sunny sort of day. Ron, Harry, and Hermione sat together in Transfiguration, sneaking glances at the window while they tried to turn a sheep into an armchair. Each and every chair still kept bleating loudly whenever someone tried to sit on it, and even Hermione was too distracted to get it perfect.

"Class, this is no joke," snapped Professor McGonagall irritably. "I have come to expect this from some of you, but today every one of you is doing badly!"

"She means baaaaaaaadly," quipped Dean quietly, prompting a round of snickering from the surrounding students.

McGonagall sighed. "I can see it's no use trying to teach you in this state. Therefore, I will give you a choice: if you are all willing to come to class early next week, I will let you out now. By a show of hands…"

Every student in the room had at least one hand up, and some of the chairs attempted it.

Hermione was wrapped up in trying to fight her guilt about not wanting to be in class and Ron was busy trying not to skip down the hall, so neither of them noticed when Harry was stopped by Draco. The two boys watched Harry's friends go off down the hall before moving into an empty classroom to talk.

"What's up, Dray?" asked Harry curiously.

"I have something to tell you. Meet me here later tonight… midnight. Meet me here at midnight," whispered Draco, winked saucily, and slipped out the door. When Harry followed, Draco was already gone.

Harry could think of nothing else the rest of the day. What did Draco want to tell him? Why did he want to meet him there? If precedence meant anything… he shivered in anticipation.

"Cold, Harry?" asked Hermione. He blinked confusedly and shook his head.

"No, it's not cold… it's nice out here," he said vaguely, and leaned back against the tree. Hermione grinned knowingly and returned to her book. Harry squinted against the sun and resumed staring at his watch. Only six hours more to wait…

"Harry, what are you sitting around for? Come play Quidditch with us!" He was dragged onto the field against his will.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Finally midnight came near. Harry could take it no longer and set off to wait for Draco, but when he arrived at the room half an hour early, Draco was already there waiting for him.

"You're finally here!" Draco greeted him.

"I'm twenty-seven minutes early," snapped Harry. "What are we here for anyway?" He crossed his arms to keep from wrapping them around Draco, and Draco frowned at him.

"Why are you mad?"

"I'm not," said Harry, and gave in to his instinct. Draco laughed softly, his chest shaking against Harry's with the breath of it, and responded in kind, entwining his hands in Harry's hair.

After a moment they broke apart. "You didn't answer me," reminded Harry, suddenly in a very good mood. "What did you have to tell me?"

"I had to tell you about my house!" said Draco brightly.

"Your… house?" said Harry.

"My house," said Draco. "I just inherited it. And I think I need to make some use of it soon… and you're going to help me. Got your invisibility cloak with you?"

Harry's delight at having a safe place to be with Draco cut off suddenly, and he smacked his hand against his forehead. "No! How did I forget to bring it? I always have it when I sneak out!"

"No matter, we have time to go get it," said Draco.

They saw no one as they made their way to Gryffindor Tower, and took the risk of going hand in hand. Harry snuck Draco into the common room. "Wait here while I grab the cloak from upstairs," Harry whispered. He looked around quickly, and seeing that they were alone, gave Draco a quick kiss – being quick because it was cut off by an unbelieving shriek.

They both whirled towards the stairway and saw Neville standing there, whiter than a ghost.

"Oh, shit," muttered Harry.

Draco put on his most menacing face and strode, looking like Slytherin himself in all his alarming glory, up the stairs to stand before Neville. Harry stood behind Draco and tried to look in agreement as Draco threatened Neville.

"Look here, boy, if you tell anyone – ANYONE – what you just saw, I will make sure that something REALLY BAD happens to you. Got it?" Neville paled even more, if possible, as his imagination got to work. He saw Harry standing there and sent him a pleading look. Harry's stomach sank, but he spoke anyway.

"Listen, Neville, really. Shut up about it. Nobody needs to know." Harry, clearing his throat, pushed past both of them and into his room. Grabbing his invisibility cloak, he went back down the stairs, where Draco was still glaring at Neville, and pulled Draco down the stairs by his arm. They left Neville behind in Gryffindor Tower, standing shellshocked on the stairs.

"He's not going to tell, is he?" asked Draco suspiciously.

"After the ultimatum you gave him, I'd be surprised if he ever spoke again," said Harry.

"Good," said Draco smugly, then, "oh, damn it all!"

"What?" said Harry, alarmed.

"I left my key in my room. Come on, let's hurry up and get it so we can get out of here!"

They hurried down to the Slytherin rooms, hiding themselves under the invisibility cloak this time. Harry was surprised to find that the Slytherins had constructed barriers – temporary but soundproof – between their own areas, so they didn't have to be quiet as they looked for the key. Draco certainly didn't even try. He dug through his belongings haphazardly and threw several things violently at the floor as soon as he saw they weren't keys.

Harry perused a few of the books Draco deposited carelessly on the bed where he was sitting while Draco swore at his clothes. A couple of schoolbooks, nothing interesting… then Harry saw one that had fallen open upon the bed. Its pages were covered in a frantic scrawl. Unable to help himself, he picked it up and read.

"…that he's so much fun to mess with. I feel kind of guilty getting involved with this, but honestly, the boy is so good that this is probably necessary. Right? I have to"

"Found it!" Harry guiltily dropped what he now recognised as Draco's journal as Draco triumphantly held up the key.

Harry's voice cracked a bit as he responded. "Great, let's go," he murmured, his mind still racing with the meaning of what he'd read. So Draco didn't like him after all…

He shouldn't be surprised, he reminded himself as he followed Draco out of the school, his legs moving of their own accord; or maybe he was just letting Draco make him walk, he thought bitterly. He shouldn't be surprised. After all, how many people did he know who really liked him just for him? Ron, Hermione. Dumbledore, maybe. Everybody else liked him because he was Harry Potter, boy wonder. Even when the Slytherins hated him, they hated him because he was Harry Potter. And even Draco only liked him because he could control him.

So that's the way it is, he thought. So this is what it feels like to be heartbroken. Well, I won't let him see he's won. If he's in it for the lust, so am I.

"Ready to fly, Potter?" questioned Draco as they approached the place near the edge of the woods where Draco had stashed their broomsticks.

Harry steeled himself. "I'm ready for whatever you throw at me."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The trip to Draco's house only took ten minutes, but it was ten of the longest minutes of Harry's life. He kept his eyes glued straight ahead, afraid he might lose his nerve and leave Draco right in the air. 

They landed in the front yard of a beautiful house and carried their broomsticks onto the porch. Draco, grinning, triumphantly produced the key and opened the door. The inside of the house was just as beautiful.

"Wow," said Harry, forcing a smile, "I always thought the Malfoys were more of a fortress family."

"We have a couple of those too." Draco went into the living room and lit a fire in an enormous fireplace, then flopped onto a plush couch. "Come here, loverboy." Harry sat down stiffly next to him.

"What are you so tense for tonight? What's wrong?" Draco started to massage Harry's shoulders and kissed him on the neck as Harry shook his head.

"Nothing's any different," he said.

"Good," said Draco, and transferred his kisses to full on Harry's mouth. Harry tried to give in and relax his muscles, but they refused to go down without a fight. He had managed to lean halfway back against the couch before his conscience came back in full force. He leapt to his feet.

"What is it?!" said Draco, alarmed and trying to pull Harry back onto the couch. Harry resisted.

"I can't do this," he said.

"Why on earth not?" demanded Draco. "It's not like you haven't before."

"I just… I don't feel right. I know you're just using me. I don't want to be used anymore."

Draco's mouth hung open. "Where do you get this idea?"

Harry snapped at him. "I know it's true. You shouldn't throw your journal so carelessly at the people you write about." He headed for his broomstick on the porch. "I think it's time you find another person to use for your little games. I'm leaving."

"Oh, no, oh, no," mouthed Draco wordlessly, before managing, "wait!" Harry turned slightly just before Draco shouted, "PETRIFICUS TOTALIS!"

Harry felt his limbs stiffen and watched the floor lurch terribly close to his face before Draco caught him with a spell and set him upon the couch before racing out the door. Harry's heart pounded in fear. This was a more terrible betrayal than the one he had thought was taking place. Where was Draco going now? To his father? Oh, no… to Voldemort? He struggled effortlessly to move, knowing suddenly how terrible this must have been for Hermione in their second year.

The twenty minutes until Draco returned seemed like fifty million times what the flight to the house had been. Harry stared resignedly at the door, watching to see who came in after Draco, but no one did. Then he noticed that Draco was carrying the journal.

"If you're going to read a person's private thoughts, Potter, at least read them all before judging them," said Draco, his throat impossibly choked with tears. Harry listened amazedly as Draco began to read from the little book.

"It drives me crazy that I can't help feeling like Harry is so much more… special, more real, more important than I used to think. At the same time I can't help that he's so much fun to mess with. I feel kind of guilty getting involved with this, but honestly, the boy is so good that this is probably necessary. Right? I have to think so. I probably couldn't stop this feeling if I tried, but I don't want to try. I just can't help it that whenever I see him my heart does this strange tattoo. I'm afraid that I'm falling for him."

Draco finally finished, his face flushing red, and released Harry from the spell. "I'm sorry, I couldn't let you leave without knowing," he said, handing to book to Harry. Harry read it all over again.

"Wow," he said, not knowing any other words to describe all the turns his life had just almost taken.

"I know," said Draco. "I'm scared too."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

They returned to Hogwarts just before the sun rose, and pretended to climb out of bed at around the same time as the rest of the students. Tired as they were, they each couldn't help but notice the energetic buzzing of the other students as they headed down to breakfast separately.

"What's going on?" Harry asked Ron and Hermione.

"I would have thought you'd know," said Ron. "Somebody gave a truth candy to Neville."

Harry stopped walking as he realised the import. Neville would have had to tell what he had seen last night, and everybody would know there was no way it was a lie.

"Cat's out, Harry," said Hermione, shaking her head.

"Well, this will be interesting," said Draco, coming up to Harry. "I guess they all know we're talking anyway, so hi! How are you?"

Close to forty people stopped walking outside the Great Hall and watched them, filling the air with tense anticipation.

Harry looked around and then lifted his chin defiantly. "I'm great, _Draco_. How are you this morning?"

"Oh, just a bit tired," he said saucily. Somebody in the crowd cheered temporarily before Professor McGonagall testily told them all to get out of the entrance hall.

They made their way eagerly through the doors towards breakfast. "Hey, Malfoy," said Ron suddenly, "want to sit with us?"

Draco looked extremely surprised, and Hermione looked extremely proud of Ron, who started to turn pink. "Sure," said Draco. 

They made their way to the Gryffindor table, and sat down with all the school watching to see what would happen next.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*


	8. to find out what love can mean

Chapter Seven – to find out what love can mean 

What happened next was simple enough. They all ate breakfast.

More precisely, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Draco all ate breakfast and tried to not notice the whole school staring at them. They were actually pretty successful.

They were successful, that was, until Draco's ex-crony Crabbe snuck up behind him and quite predictably botched the curse he was going to attempt, causing all the benches in the hall to disappear quite suddenly. That turned out to be nearly impossible to ignore.

"Holy…"

"What the…"

"Oh my…"

Mild chaos and naughty words threatened, but were mostly quelled by Dumbledore's quick retreival of the benches. Professor McGonagall, in her turn, made a quick and gruff removal of Crabbe.

Draco looked bewildered, like he'd been grabbed and shaken by a small mouse. "I never thought he'd have the guts to try something like that." 

Harry shot him an apologetic look, not knowing what to say.

Ron looked bitter and much more on Draco's side than he'd previously been. "That was completely uncalled for!"

"Yeah, well, Crabbe is not the most… open-minded of people." Draco winced. "Not that I haven't been guilty of prejudice myself. But I'm sorry for it." He shot a pleading look at Hermione.

"No problem," she grudgingly forgave, not meeting his eyes. Then she grinned and looked straight at him. "I remember paying you back for it, though."

Draco rubbed his cheek tenderly in remembrance. "Ah, yes. The good old days." He smiled at the nostalgia of it.

"The days when you were a bad boy instead of a doe-eyed loverboy?" teased a little voice in the back of Draco's head. He began to hiss at it, but stopped when everyone looked at him strangely.

Harry seemed to know what he was thinking. "Don't worry," he whispered at Draco's ear, "you're a very bad little loverboy!"

Draco grinned. Ridiculous flattery never failed to make a bad day better.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Harry, Ron and Hermoine retreated to the Gryffindor common room later that night with the pretense that they were working on homework. In reality, the only thing any of them wanted to talk about was Harry and Draco's relationship – the same thing the rest of the school was discussing.

"Your thoughts, Hermione?" asked Harry.

"I don't think this is going to work out," she said.

Harry looked betrayed. "Why not?!"

"It's not you I doubt, Harry," she said, placing a hand on his shoulder to calm him. "It's the rest of the school. You already know some of them don't like it. And you should know how ostracizative they can be."

"Ostra what?" muttered Ron.

"Rude, I think," muttered back Harry, before responding to Hermione. "I don't care what the rest of the school thinks at this point. Half of them are idiots, and the other half are smart enough to not be a problem."

"But you acknowledge that the idiots are a problem."

"I didn't say that!"

"But it's true. Idiots have caused most of the trouble throughout history."

Not even Ron could think of an argument against Hermione this time.

"All right, Ron," sighed Harry, "what are you thinking?"

Ron hesitated before answering. "I told you before, Harry, that I didn't like him. I still don't like him. But if you do, I will make an effort to be nice. Please just don't make me hang out with him more than I have to."

Harry grinned at that. "You don't have to hang out with him at all. And don't worry, I won't forget to hang out with you. He may be a boyfriend, but you're a best friend, and that counts for more."

Harry, though smiling, ended the day with a vague feeling of apprehension about Hermione's predictions. He had to remind himself as he fell asleep that if he could handle Voldemort, he should certainly be able to handle his peers. Besides, what could they possibly do to him?

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

It turned out that no one attempted to do anything to him. Draco, however, didn't have it so easy.

The blue-haired couple attracted more than twice as much attention as they had separately on their first day of school. A spiky-haired, lightning-scarred wonderboy and his arrogant rebel bitch of a lover could not be ignored, whether they were loved or hated.

The bulk of the Slytherins chose the latter path.

Draco refused to tell Harry exactly about how his housemates took to the affair, and Harry let it go. He knew from past experience that Draco was perfectly capable of holding his own. But the fact remained that after the rumours were confirmed, Draco never looked as if he'd gotten enough sleep.

It wasn't until a week later that Draco was approached by Professor Snape. An abrupt "come to my office" was all he uttered before turning on his heel and marching off. Draco looked quizzically after him and followed.

Snape got straight to the point. "This was extremely stupid of you." He waved his wand and a piece of paper slammed onto the desk in front of Draco.

Draco craned his neck, trying to see what he had apparently been so stupid to write. It was nothing he recognised.

"Don't pretend you don't know what it is," demanded Snape. "I heard you weeks ago talking about blackmail. Now it happens, and thanks to your stupidity, it didn't take me two minutes to think of you and match this handwriting to yours."

Draco started to protest that it wasn't his handwriting at all when he looked at the paper again, and realised with a sinking heart that it was. He was sure that it had not been written by his hand, but by looking at it, no one else would ever be able to tell.

"Well, aren't you going to whine and protest?" snapped Snape bitterly.

"May I read the letter first, sir?" said Draco meekly.

Snape rolled his eyes and gestured detestingly at the piece of paper. Draco picked it up and began to read to himself.

"Snape

I know what you have been doing against the Dark Lord. If you do not stop right now and if you do not leave 100 Galleons in a bag under the couch in the Slytherin common room, I will tell him and I will be rewarded for it.

I have lots to gain from this. You have lots to lose. You should return to the Lord and give me my money and not make him have to kill you or else.

You-Don't-Know-Who"

Draco set the letter down, scoffing. "There's no _way_ I would write a blackmail letter that bad," he said. "And honestly, man, think about it. Why the hell would I need money from _you_?"

Snape glowered. "You are a disgrace to Slytherin already. There's no telling what you could end up doing now. And from the quality of this attempt, you're not going to get very far. I doubt You-Know-Who," this he said in a voice dripping with distaste, "would have believed you anyway. As it is, you are now prohibited from leaving school grounds, ESPECIALLY with that Potter boy. Your parents should be ashamed of you."

Draco's jaw dropped open. "Do you HONESTLY think I did this? This is crap! I couldn't have done this badly if I tried."

"I don't care about your writing skills! Face it, boy, you've been caught." Snape grabbed Draco by the shoulder of his robes and started to haul him to Dumbledore's office.

They passed Harry and Ron in the hall.

"Harry! Ron!" yelled Draco. "I didn't do it!"

Harry and Ron gawked in surprise as Professor Snape pulled a struggling Draco down the hall, swearing at the frantic boy and trying to resist using a bit of a curse. They started to follow them, but were stopped in their tracks by a glare from Snape.

"What has he got himself into now?" said Ron gloomily.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Harry, despite all his worried pacing throughout the length of the school, didn't see Draco again until the next day. Leaving breakfast early – he couldn't possibly be that hungry when his boyfrined was missing - he spotted Draco leaning against the wall in the entrance hall, sulking. Harry started towards him determined to find out what was going on, his dread growing as he noted Draco's apparel.

"Damnit, Dray. Why aren't you wearing your uniform?"

Draco looked up quickly, his eyes widening. "Harry! Listen to me. I've been framed for blackmailing Snape with this horribly written letter, I swear I didn't do it. You know that. They're suspending me. You've got to help me. You've got to prove I didn't do it, even Dumbledore doesn't believe me. And even if my father believes me, he wants to get me away from you."

Harry was suddenly very annoyed, perhaps by the painful knot of dread that was forming in his stomach. "What, am I the designated super... helper... outer... around here? What makes you think I can save you? And what makes you so sure I believe you, anyway? You don't give me a lot of reasons." He clenched his fist and tried not to punch the stone wall out of frustration.

Draco looked like he was going to cry and knew it, and quickly looked around to make sure nobody else was around. He pulled Harry into a corner and whispered in his ear. "You have to believe me, I know I've given you reason not to before, but not now. Now I love you. You know that, you have to. I won't lie to you."

Harry suddenly realised that he couldn't help believing Draco. Even if he knew it was a lie, he would rearrange his reality to believe it. His lips acted on their own as he whispered, "I love you too." He wrapped his arms around Draco protectively. "And I'll do whatever I can to keep you here. I'm sorry, I'm just finally scared." He held Draco for a moment before pulling away and kissing him on the forehead. "I don't know how long it will take me to find out who did it, but I won't stop until I do. I can hear your father coming, good luck. I'll see you later, love." He turned and ran up the stairs, followed by Draco's voice echoing a quiet "I love you," before Lucius shoved open Hogwart's heavy wooden door to claim his son.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The next few days seemed like an eternity for Harry as he listened intently to every conversation he encountered, being able to discover no better way to find out people's relationships to Draco. Hermione tried to help him by teaching him a superhearing spell, but he still fell asleep with his head buzzing from the difficulty of looking terminally uninterested in other people's lives.

Also painful were some of the things he overheard about Draco. Harry had known that Draco's life hadn't always been pure – all those rumours couldn't have been spun out of nothing – but he really didn't want to know the specifics. When he couldn't take it anymore, he just stared at the wall and tried to only hear key phrases. Unfortunately, the key phrases he picked up were not "framed for blackmail" or "conspiracy," but "last year's final party" and "good sex" and the occasional stinging slander.

Harry was beginning to give up on that approach and go back to Gryffindor Tower, where he was supposed to be, when he was caught.

"Well, if it isn't the _former_ golden boy of the wizarding world," sneered Crabbe. "I suppose you're looking for another victim to get kicked out of school?"

Harry's mouth dropped in amazement. "You're saying that I got Draco kicked out? That's a lie if I've ever heard one, and I've heard many. Most of them at least more creative than yours. You know I didn't do it, and I bet you know who did."

Crabbe's face twisted in anger as his fist flew towards Harry's head. Harry ducked, and instead of his head, Crabbe ended up with his hand smashed against a stone wall and gasping in pain. He doubled over, clutching his hand and turning red.

"Come on, weren't you taught that violence isn't the answer?" Harry was struck by a sudden idea as he held up his hands to shield himself from another advance from Crabbe. "Alright, I'm just joking, I don't think you could have possibly written a good blackmail letter anyway. I'm not blaming you."

Crabbe turned redder. "Are you saying I can't write?"

"Oh, no. That's not what I'm saying at all. I just don't think you'd risk your neck to do it. You seem like you like to stay on the safe side, that's all." Harry blinked innocently, hiding his satisfaction as the hue of Crabbe rapidly approached lava.

Crabbe exploded abruptly. "How dare you! You're just like him, I swear. Both of you just traipse around, thinking it's your right to do whatever you want. Fine, I did it. It worked, didn't it? He's gone. And you can't prove I did it, so you can't do _anything_ about it. And soon you'll be gone too, and I'm glad you'll know exactly who got rid of you." He grinned triumphantly.

Harry looked suddenly downcast at the mention that he couldn't prove Crabbe's innocence, and, having reached an apparent dead end, almost started to cry. Crabbe, still smirking like a crazed gorilla, stalked away around the corner, no longer afraid of Harry.

Harry's expression changed once Crabbe was gone, and he set off in a different direction – this time towards Dumbledore's office.


End file.
